Microcurrent therapy, commonly referred as MENS (Microcurrent Electrical Neuromuscular Stimulation), is extremely small pulsating currents of electricity. These currents are finely tuned to the level of the normal electrical exchanges which take place at body’s cellular level. These currents being more biologically compatible than any other electrical stimulation device, have the ability to penetrate the cell - as opposed to passing over the cell as other stimulation devices do. It works on ARNDT - SCHULTZ Law which states that : “Weak stimuli increases physiological activity and very strong stimuli inhibit or abolish activity.”

This subsensory current normalizes the ordinary activity taking place within the cell if it has been injured or otherwise compromised.

The external addition of microcurrent will increase the production of ATP, protein synthesis, oxygenation, ion exchange, absorption of nutrients, elimination of waste products, and neutralizes the oscillating polarity of deficient cells. Homeostasis is restored.

The biologically sensitive stimulation effect of microcurrent picks up where the body’s own electrical current fails, as the human body must adhere to the natural law of electricity which is : “ electricity must take path of least resistance.”. Therefore, its electrical current is destined to move around an injury or defect, rather than through it.

By normalizing cell activity, inflammation is reduced while collagen producing cells are  increased. Healthy cell metabolism creates a healthy, painfree internal environment.

DOUBLE - BLIND STUDIES LERNER AND KIRSCH, on chronic and acute back pain show the overwhelming effect of MENS over other modalities.

Internal exchanges within the body have been long understood by medical practitioners. Applying that knowledge has been slow in developing. Doctors and physical therapists all over the world have been using microcurrent to heal injured muscles, tendons, wounds and a myriad of injuries and ailments for the past fifteen years.

Electricity is usually measured in amperes. Micro amps used in microcurrent therapy are one millionth of an ampere or one thousandth of a miliampere. It would take one million microcurrent machines to light a 40 watt light bulb. This is mentioned in an effort to emphasize the minuteness of the electrical currents used in microcurent therapy. These small, therapeutic doses augment the body’s own healing ability with no discomfort to the patient. It eliminates overdoses, over stimulation, misuse, and side effects. It removes much of anxiety of medical misjudgments and guesswork while offering unlimited creative and healing potential.

Let’s us start with a brief reminder of muscle physiology. Skeletal muscles are a composition of fibers innervated by nerves. Nerve impulses pass through a neuromuscular junction into the muscle fiber. The nerve impulses, or current, continue through the muscle fiber to stimulate the “action potential”, triggering a large release of calcium. This initiates the contraction process. The contraction continues as the muscle cell’s increased permeability allows sodium ions to enter the cell, and the intracellular negativity is reinstated.

Energy for this process to occur, comes from the nucleotide compound ATP ( Adenosine Triphosphate ) being reduced to ADP ( Adenosine Diphosphate ). Large amounts of ATP are used up during a contraction and must constantly be replenished. ATP is derived from metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and oxygen - nutrition.

When a muscle is traumatized, it protects itself by going into spasm. This decreases blood supply, nutrients, oxygen and ATP, disrupts the sodium pump, and increases waste products within the cell. The electrical current of injured tissue takes on positive charge differing from the negative charge of healthy tissue. Non injured cells try to restore normal electrical function, but the body’s electrical system is subject to the natural law of electricity which dictates : “electricity must take the path of least resistance.” and travels around the injured tissue.

With the addition of external microstimulation, the damaged tissue recovery period is dramatically reduced.

Tissue pathology begins with injured or otherwise insulted cells that exude certain biochemical substances, such as arachidonic acid, from the lipid portion of the cell membrane into their interstitial environment. These substances are responsible for turning on a complex array of inflammatory and pain - producing responses. The best way to accelerate relief from these responses is to accelerate the intracellular processes that result in the repair or replacement of the injured cells themselves. This involves accelerating the production of ATP ( primary conveyor of energy within the cell ), new protein and new DNA, if new cells are required. The calcium concentration within the cells is known to play a very important role in activating a variety of enzymes which turn on the above processes. It has been shown that passing electrical current across the membrane of tissue cells (such as fibroblasts, which form new tissue in healing wound) in an optimal fashion will do remarkably effective job of opening certain membrane channels to calcium ions. Calcium ions will then proceed to enter the cell from interstitial fluid (where they are more concentrated), and increase their concentration within the cell.

Electrical stimulation of a tissue also results in improved circulation by several mechanisms, which may include the local release of vasodilator substances and decrease in sympathetic vasoconstrictor reflex activity. This can result in :

1. Reduced pain at injury site
2. Improved neuromuscular responsiveness
3. Reduction of inflammatory responses
4. Increased range of motion and reduction of tightness in disturbed muscle tissue
5. Reduced recuperation time and less neuromuscular inhibition leading to enhanced contractility of muscle fibers.

Glucose, upon entering the cell is immediately phosphorized by ATP in the presence of hexokinase and Mg ++. The cell must have a stored reserve of ATP for energy consumption.

The following is only intended to highlight the great importance of ATP < - > ADP + P + reaction for cell life : One mole of glucose metabolized via tricarboxylic  (TCA) cycle or “Krebs cycles” yields a 38 moles of ATP. One mole of glucose metabolized via the anaerobic glycolysis (The Emboden - Myerhof Cycle) yields 2 moles of ATP.

ATP is the highest energy producing substance for the cell, and is immediately available for the complex endergonic processes of the cells, as established by the genetic code and the RNA (Ribonucleic Acid) structure.

A study by Cheng et al, 1982, using micro current accelerated ATP generation, protein synthesis, and membrane transport gives an in - depth report. Results on rat skin showed ATP generation increased 500%. Amino acid transport increased 30 - 40%.

Nociceptive fibers, free nerve endings sensitive to tissue dysfunction, are found in skin, fibrous capsule, periosteum, intramuscular arteries, blood vessels walls and, in abundance, in the blood vessels walls and, in abundance, blood vessels of adipose tissue. These fibers send pain impulses to the brain.

The initial phase of treatment to normalize the cell is followed by returning the muscle to its normal shape and position.

By stimulating the efferent fibers at the origin and insertion points of the involved muscle or muscles, the muscle can gently be coaxed into being stretched or shortened with no pain to the patient. An atrophied muscle can be shortened and toned. A muscle in spasm can be stretched. Anti - inflammatory and pain reducing drugs are either eliminated or drastically reduced.

Acute pain is alleviated quickly and chronic pain, with a bit more persistence, is greatly affected with the use of microcurrent therapy. There is no greater sense of satisfaction than watching a twenty year old injury heal after years of suffering by the patient. No one understands pain better than someone who’s been told they must “learn to live with it”. After having lived with it, to have it removed is the greatest kindness one can bestow on another.

A study by Mayo clinic found 24% of chronic pain sufferers to be drug dependent and 42% to be abusers. Between $ 33,000,000 and $ 50,000,000 a year, are spent on medication. Chronic pain is, indeed, a major health problem.

Although it has been primarily used in sports medicine with thigh - clapping enthusiasm from the athletes themselves, sports medicine is only the beginning. It has been widely used in :

Studies are being done in various parts of the world using microcurrent to help sleep disorders, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, stress, depression, cancer, chronic fatigue, spinal cord injury rehabilitation, and even AIDS.

Decubitus, an indolent skin ulcer, which is the bane of the medical profession, causes great amounts of lost time and wages for the patient.

From a study by Jesse Barron, M.D., Wyamane Jacobson, M.D., and Greg Tidd taken from Minnesota Medicine : “ The complete healing or marked decrease in ulcers in this project during treatment with MENS was in sharp contrast to their prior indolence.” The median age of patients was over eighty. Frequencies used were between .3 and .5. In the numerous studies done in decubiti, this particular healing had far and away the fastest healing rate and used the lowest frequencies for healing, once again pointing out that less current is more effective.

Surface area of decubitis ulcer ( sq.cm. )

Ulcers in these patients were chronic and showed little or no improvement in the previous 13 weeks of therapies. In various studies it was noticed that collagen producing cells increased during treatment.

Robert O. Becker, M.D., reports that naturally occurring electric currents are measurable in the body, which send electrical signals through the Schwann and glial cell sheaths surrounding neurons to an area of injury. This process triggers the repair and regeneration process. he found that the human body is normally polarized  positively along the central spinal axis and negatively peripherally.

Bjorn Nordenstrom, M.D., author of Biologically Closed Electric Circuits : Clinical, Experimental and Theoretical Evidence for an Additional Circulatory System, states that bioelectricity is conducted through the microcapillary circulatory system in the body. When injury occurs, a positive charge builds up in the area of injury and sets up the voltage potential difference which serves as biological battery waiting for the switch to be turned on. The bioelectricity is then switched on by a change in the electrical insulation properties of the capillary membranes. As they become less permeable to the flow of ions and become more electrically insulated, the bioelectric flow of energy is forced to take path of least resistance, which is through the bloodstream. Thus the bioelectric switch is through the bloodstream.

In 1957 Fakada and Yasuda found preferential binding of positive or negative ions within fluid channels in the stressed bone creates naturally occurring “piezoelectric” streaming potentials. It appears through negative currents of an intrinsic (piezoelectric) or extrinsic source can stimulate bone growth, repair and remodeling.

A multitude of terminology describing microcurrent can be confusing.. MENS theory, as it is most often called, is a bit of misnomer. MENS (microcurrent electrical neuromuscular stimulation), has far more potential than just neuromuscular system. Bioelectric, biostimulation, electrical stimulation are other less often used terms. The pulsating current of MENS gives it the ability to penetrate the cutaneous and subcutaneous barriers without having to turn up the voltage or current. It is the extremely low current which stimulates the healing process as well as gives pain relief.

Robert I. Picker, who claims to have treated over 10,000 patients using MENS therapy says, “ it produces superior results on the vast majority of acute and chronic conditions on which it is applied, including both, bone and soft tissue injuries. A surprising number of intractable pain problems unresponsive to other therapies are proving responsive to microcurrent therapy. Results are usually obvious after 2 - 3 daily treatments, and are often quite noticeable after the very first treatment.

CONTRA INDICTION

• Individuals with demand - type cardiac pacemaker or epilepsy.
• Safety during pregnancy has not been established.
• It should not be passed directly through the carotid sinus, eyeball, cardiac area, or malignant tumors.
• Caution should be used around areas with a tendency to bleed.

Professional athletes were among the first to benefit from the microcurrent therapy. Their livelihoods depends on the best, safest, and quickest treatment available in order to stay in high pressure, high paying careers where injury is an inherent part of the job. Tremendous physical abuse must be counteracted with the most sophisticated, effective treatment available. MENS meets the criteria for fast, efficient treatment programs. Athletic trainers give MENS a 90% efficiency rating. Many athletes carry their own MENS equipment to help them maintain their optimum strength and coordination. Paul Asmuth, a marathon swimmer, suffering with myositis and capsulitis of the shoulder only days before 21 mile swim, was back in the competition after five MENS treatments. He placed 2nd, outdistancing swimmers ten years his junior.

Gary Carter, pitcher for New York Mets ..... following surgical repair of a partial tear of the radial collateral ligament in his thumb, noticed pain reduction after 5 or 10 minutes of microcurrent therapy. Thirty minutes later, he had no pain and had complete range of motion. MENS shortened his recovery by more than half of the time for treating sport injuries.

Mike Hayes, cornerback for the LA Raiders, has his own unit after being treated for an ankle injury and felt results immediately. Dan Silver, M.D., Orthopedic Surgeon for the Joffrey Ballet, the NFL League Players Association, LA Raiders and Rams, use it for these big league clients.

Mike Spinks, Mike Elkins, Joan Benoit, Carl Lewis, and Joe Montana are a few professionals whose careers were salvaged after career threatening injuries were healed with microcurrent therapy.

Moistened cotton swabs on probe tips are particularly useful in lengthening or shortening muscles and tendons, wound healing, rejuvenating skin, facelifts, body toning, organ enhancement etc.

Pads for unattended treatments and pain relief, or over saline saturate gauze on decubiti and wounds.

Gloves for massage or covering a larger surface area.

Pads in water for whole body treatment such as : increased circulation, reduced stress, increased intestinal peristalsis, energy, reduced hemorrhoids, gastric symptoms, and many other problems.

Physical therapists, always on the lookout for the better equipment, have been among the first in the medical profession to realize the potential for the MENS equipment. Doctors, concerned about the overuse of pharmaceuticals and more invasive procedures, are having office personnel trained to use the equipment to reduce costs to patients. Insurance companies recognize and will pay for the therapy. It helps bring back the personal touch to the healing profession.

SUMMARY

1. The MENS unit is biologically more compatible with the body’s own electrical system.
2. It is more effective in neutralizing the oscillating polarity of injured cells.
3. Microcurrents have a positive effect of increasing the availability of ATP, increasing cell permeability, making nutrient transport of waste more efficient, increasing protein synthesis and ion exchange.

The dual tipped probes, as opposed to single tipped probes, offer mixed frequency with unmatched waveforms creating the crisscrossed pattern of four current emission streams instead of one. This increases the tissue saturation without increasing current to maintain the ultimate healing aspect of low frequency. There are thirty two preprogrammed treatments with the ability to customize your own programs for special situations. The preprogrammed treatments are diverse enough to cover most situations encountered. However, for the purpose of research, or a particularly stubborn case, the ability to set custom programs is essential.